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Winnipeg, MB – TheNewswire – June 6, 2025 – British Columbia municipalities have emerged as the most transparent in Canada when it comes to public financial reporting, according to the 2025 Local Government Performance Index (LGPI) published by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Three B.C. cities — Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Kelowna — tied for the highest score in the nation, each earning 32 out of a possible 33 points on the Transparency Index, a measure that evaluates the clarity, completeness, and timeliness of financial statements for the 2023 fiscal year.
The Transparency Index (TI) scores cities based on 10 key criteria, including the timeliness of audit reports, presence of detailed commentary, historical financial trends, and whether expenditures are broken down by object and category. The goal is to promote accountability and help citizens and stakeholders understand how public funds are being spent.
“B.C. cities continue to set the standard for openness in municipal finance,” said Lee Harding, the report’s author. “Their commitment to clear, accessible reporting is helping raise the bar for transparency across the country.”
Regional Leaders and Laggards
The report evaluated 17 municipalities in British Columbia, all among the 99 largest cities in Canada. Highlights include:
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Top Scores (32/33):
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Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Kelowna
These cities excelled in nearly every transparency category, including receiving accounting awards, presenting thorough capital asset data, and publishing detailed spending breakdowns.
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Other High Performers (30+ points):
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Maple Ridge, Port Coquitlam, Richmond, Saanich, Victoria, Vancouver– all scored 30 or above.
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Lowest Score:
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Chilliwack earned just 23 points, the lowest in B.C., due to missing key reporting elements such as:
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Lack of an accounting award
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No breakdown of expenditures by object
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No separation of goods and contracted services
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Absence of historical financial trends
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Provincial Progress
Since the LGPI was first launched in 2007, transparency scores across British Columbia have steadily improved. Notably:
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Kelowna and Maple Ridge each gained two points over the previous year.
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Victoria improved by one point.
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Most other cities maintained their scores or saw minimal decline.
About the LGPI
The Local Government Performance Index compiles and compares municipal financial data for 99 Canadian cities through the website LGPI.ca. The site provides per-household and absolute dollar figures for categories such as capital assets, total revenue, and public safety expenditures, enabling public comparisons between cities from 2007 to 2023.
While the LGPI does not evaluate whether municipalities are spending wisely, it does assess how well they communicate financial information to the public, making it easier for residents to hold local officials accountable.
Contact:
Lee Harding
Research Fellow
Frontier Centre for Public Policy
lee.harding@fcpp.org
Marco Navarro-Genie
Vice President of Research and Policy
mng@fcpp.org
About the Frontier Centre
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent Canadian think tank focused on fostering good governance and accountability in public institutions. The LGPI project aims to encourage municipalities to adopt best practices in financial reporting through transparency benchmarking.
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